When Recovery May Not Actually Be Recovery

Well, I think I may have done it. What is "it"? "It" refers to short-circuiting my "recovery week". This past week was meant to be an easy recovery week, after racing a half marathon last weekend and stringing together 5 straight weeks of over 40 miles per week. This week I ran 5 times for a total of 30 miles, all at an easy pace. Sounds like I backed off...and I did. But I think I let my ego get the best of me. Thirty miles in a week is indeed less than 40+, and as I mentioned, I ran everything at a slow recovery pace. However, this morning's 5.5 mile run revealed some fatigue and, afterward, a very sore right hip, which has been killing me all day. If I really wanted to "recover" this week, maybe 3 or 4 runs for a total of 15-20 miles would have been more appropriate. After all, before my string of 40+ mile weeks, I really hadn't been running a lot of miles per week (probably an average of 30).

Next week is my first official week of marathon training. My schedule calls for 35 miles with a long run of only 10 miles. Should be do-able, as long as my hip isn't seriously messed up.

So, as cliché as it sounds, remember to do what I should have done (especially this morning) - LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!

8 miler in the A.M.

Got up at 5:25, drove to Centennial Trail in Snohomish (where I do most of my bike rides) and ran 8 miles. For the most part I kept the pace pretty gentle, but on a whim I decided to throw in one hard mile, just for kicks. Here are the splits (I'm sure you'll figure out which was the hard mile): 8:32/8:27/8:29/8:26/8:11/7:07/8:09/8:16. That hard mile made the final two pretty difficult, but I held form and got it done. Heart rate was a bit high at the end (145), but overall a good run.
My right hip bothered me on and off. I'm starting to think that it may be a bit of hip bursitis rather than IT band-related. My knees are doing well. I'm stretching the hip & using the foam roller, but it seems to be persistent. It's not bad enough to cause me to stop running, but I'm worried that it might escalate.
The plan for tomorrow is another easy 25mi on the bike, before riding hills next week.
Happy training, everyone!

Today's run...with a slight change of plans

Due to some recent hip (and to a lesser extent, knee) pain and tightness, I had planned on doing a 4-mile run on a composite track a few miles away. I was going to try and run one mile in 9 minutes, 1 in 8, one in 9, and the last in 8, just to vary my pace. Well, I had a bit of intestinal distress this morning (no elaboration needed), so I wanted to stay close to home. I ended up doing a neighborhood run on a loop just a tad over a mile long, running on gravel and grass as much as possible, with the same pace variation I had planned on. The run ended up being three loops (3.1 miles) in an overall pace of 8:34/mile (HR was only 122 at finish). I had to cut it a mile short due to my right hip really getting sore and tight. I followed the run with some stretching and a 12-minute ice bath. The bad news is the hip, but the good news is that my right knee didn't give me any guff. I'm not sure if the cycling is aggravating my hip, or if it's just an IT band issue. I'll continue with the stretching and strengthening and back off on the mileage (and cycling minutes) a bit and see if this thing settles down. Gotta stay positive, though!